Research Notes

Research information for Brown faculty, grant-related staff,
and students from the Office of the Vice President for Research

Amid a deepening crisis in Ukraine, the Brown community unites to provide support for people most affected in Ukraine, and to make sense of the unfolding war with Russia through panel discussions, podcasts, teach-ins, and downloadable lessons.  Read more.

2022 OVPR Internal Awards Announced

2022 Seed Awardees
OVPR is pleased to announce the 20 winners of its 2022 Seed Awards, which advance research through new directions and collaborations, and boost potential for subsequent external funding. Read about the newly funded projects here.

2022 Salomon Awardees
OVPR is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Salomon awards. Designed to recognize excellence in scholarship, the Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Awards fund exceptional faculty research projects. Read about the projects here.

Research Agreements and Contracting

OVPR announces the official launch of Research Agreements and Contracting (RAC)
RAC is responsible for drafting, negotiating, and managing contracts and agreements in support of research at Brown, including MTAs, DUAs, Non-Funded Agreements, and other complex and unique contracts. Contact ResearchContracts@brown.edu, and visit our website.

Technology Innovations

Digital Health Commercialization Seminar Series
BTI and Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health will host a weekly seminar series on how to bring digital health innovations to market. Hear from digital health strategy experts and our legal partners to guide your entrepreneurial journey. Read more.

New patents to Brown
Christopher Moore (Neuroscience) was awarded a patent for a bioluminescence-driven optogenetic approach to modulate activity of an excitable cell (US11242374B2). The invention can treat conditions related to neuron bursting, like epilepsy.

RightHill Ventures has officially launched!
Backed by university-based groups and entrepreneurs, RightHill Ventures recruits key players from national industry and entrepreneurial talent to identify and fund innovators creating solutions to the world’s most challenging problems. Read more.

Inventor’s Toolkit: Certificate in Digital Health Innovation
Brown offers an online Digital Health Innovation Certificate program for those interested in learning about the lifecycle of digital health solutions, from design to implementation. Read more.

Office of Research Strategy and Development

New Strategic Funding Opportunities website
ORSD is excited to announce its redesigned Strategic Funding Opportunities website, developed with the Office of Corporate and Foundation Relations. We hope you will visit often and find ​opportunities that inspire you to reach out to the ORSD team.

2022 NSF CAREER Award proposal writing resources at Brown University
Join the Engaged Scholarship and Broader Impacts Working Group for 2022 NSF CAREER proposal support offerings! New in 2022: participation in the Spring BI Workshop is a prerequisite for availing of the mock panel in June. Read more.

Engaged Scholarship and Broader Impacts staff conversation & lunch
The University's Engaged Scholarship and Broader Impacts Working Group invites staff with ES/BI responsibilities to a virtual conversation about existing activities and opportunities for collaboration. 4/5/22, 11-12 pm+optional lunch. Register.

Get to know the Leadership Alliance
Join the Leadership Alliance staff and faculty collaborators for this virtual event to learn about opportunities to mentor and support underrepresented students in research. 4/6/22, 10-11:30 am. Click here to join or contact Taiese Bingham-Hickman.

"Workshop Your BI Idea"
A prerequisite for the NSF CAREER mock panels, this is for faculty developing proposals with a Broader Impact or community engaged component to share ideas and get feedback from colleagues. 4/14/22, 12-11 pm. Register.

Office of Research Integrity

New NIH Policy for Data Management and Sharing presentations available
Did you miss the Love Data Week talks on the new NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy and the resources we have here at Brown to put the Policy into practice? These presentations are now available on our website.

New requirements for exports to Russia and Belarus
The US government imposed new sanctions and export controls on Russia and Belarus. Members of the Brown community wishing to travel to, collaborate with, or send/transfer any item, technology, material to Russia or Belarus should review this guidance and contact Brown’s Export Control team.

New comprehensive sanctions for certain regions of Ukraine
If you are doing research in or have active research or education collaborations with people located in Ukraine, please review our guidance and contact Brown’s Export Control team to ensure compliance with the new federal regulations.

New IRB guidance: Certificates of Confidentiality (CoCs)
​Certificates of Confidentiality (CoCs) help protect participants in studies collecting or using identifiable, sensitive information.​ This new guidance includes federal application instructions, PI responsibilities, and IRB expectations for CoCs.​

New IRB deadline for Full Board submissions
A response to HRPP review of Full Board submissions must be received by 5 pm on the 2nd Thursday of the month in order to be considered during IRB review. Lack of response may lead to a delayed approval. See meeting and deadline dates.

Updated IRB Application Appendix I: Advisor
We listened to your questions and concerns! This IRB Application appendix for advisors of graduate and/or medical students serving as the PI of a human subjects research study has been greatly reduced in length to fix redundancies.

Meeting dates & submission deadlines

Research Administration Information Systems

Important - required removal of access and role(s) for Coeus and Workday grants
Did a team member recently leave, transfer or acquire a new position within your department? If so, a ticket is required to remove their access. Read more.

Coeus inquiries: technical help and report requests require a ticket
A reminder that all departmental inquiries and technical assistance requests for Coeus need to be submitted via an OIT Service Center ticket. Also, all report requests require a ticket.

InfoEd Lab Animals: Deactivation of access v. protocol roles (important for lab managers and delegates)
System access roles are separate from personnel listed on a protocol. A ticket is required to deactivate roles, which will stop email notifications. To find out if you need to submit a ticket, read more.

Organization requests for Coeus require further information
Organizations have required information before they can be processed. See this page for required information in your ticket request.

Office of Sponsored Projects

Join our talented team in the University’s central office of Research Administration
OSP anticipates openings for two Grant & Contract Accountants in our Post-Award Services Division.  Contact Heather_dominey@brown.edu for more information.

Special Proposal Instructions: NIH Conference Grants (R13/U13)
A Plan to Promote Safe Environments is required as part of Just-In-Time materials should the application be recommended for funding. This requirement will take effect for R13/U13 applications submitted for the April 12, 2022 due date.

Federal award recipients are required by law to establish and maintain a Drug-Free Workplace Policy
An employee convicted of violating a drug law in the workplace must report the conviction to their supervisor within five days. If the employee is working on a federal grant or contract, OSP must notify the funding agency within 10 days.

NIH salary cap updated
The NIH salary cap has been increased; effective on January 2, 2022, the maximum salary that can be awarded and charged to an award will increase from $199,300 to $203,700. The Notice has helpful calculations and our Cap worksheet is found here.

Solution to the February Mini Case Study Challenge
Sally helps a new faculty member with an eRA Commons Account. Let’s see what she learned.

March Mini Case Study
Can you help Sally with this NIH Other Support question?

Welcome new OSP team members
Welcome to our new Grant & Contract Administrator Roth Nhar, who joins Pre-Award Services, and Brenda Figueroa, who joins Research Subcontracting.

Funding & Awards

NIH Notice of Special Interest (NOSI): Validation of Digital Health and Artificial Intelligence Tools for Improved Assessment in Epidemiological, Clinical, and Intervention Research
Will support the addition of new measurement modalities to evaluate existing and recently developed but not yet validated digital health and AI tools in epidemiological, clinical, and intervention research.

Limited Submission Funding Opportunities
Limited Submissions require institutional nomination or endorsement from Brown. Interested? See the featured funding database of searchable limited submission opportunities here.

Conferences and Training

NCURA Financial Research Administration Conference, New Orleans, LA
Monday, March 14, 2022 - Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Pre-Award Research Administration Conference, New Orleans, LA
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 - Friday, March 18, 2022

NIH Federal Updates

Revised NIH Grants Policy Statement
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announces publication of the updated NIH Grants Policy Statement (NIHGPS, rev. December 2021) - applicable to NIH grants and cooperative agreements with budget periods starting on or after October 1, 2021.

Guidance for Applicants Preparing Applications for the Spring 2022 Due Dates
Reviewers will continue to receive instructions to assume that constraints arising from the COVID-19 pandemic will be resolved during the project period and should not affect their scores. Therefore, NIH grant applications should NOT include contingency or recovery plans for problems resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research Communications